Blackstar Owners, lets talk come inside

[mantis]

Hello all,
I've been looking for a smaller practice amp and starting thinking why not just go with a lower wattage amp. I was thinking that a 40-60 watt head or combo would be a good place to go from a 100 watt monster. Home practice on a 100 watt amp is fine but it wants to be turned up and this is where it sounds better and better as we all know. Not to mention replacing 8 tubes instead of 4 would be a great benefit as well.
I also don't ever turn past 2 or at extreme 3 so I know going with a smaller wattage amp would be ideal for everything I do and then some.

So Backstair caught me eye again , years ago I wasn't a fan as I tried to dial in some tones I wanted and didn't quite get where I wanted with the clean channels. All my choices in amps start with a good quality clean channel no matter how good the OD channels are. I turned down many amps due to this and went with one I never even heard of before ( Krank Revolution 1) as it had a beautiful clean channel very much like my Twin reverb or Bassman 10 Fender amps. The Drive channel on my Krank is about as good as it gets as Its as mean and nasty fifty as one meaning me could ever dream of.
But It eats tubes as they always seem to go bad over a short period of time and you really notice a softer mushy tone when the power amp tubes go. And again it's way to powerful for home practice and I have come to terms with that.
I was blown away with the HT5R practice amp and thought, why not go with a 40- 60 watt model and really dig my heels in on these Backstair amps. I know I can dial in some sweet tones if I took the time to do so.

So what do you guys think of the lines? HT Metal , Venue Series, Artist and Soloist series. I really like the HT 50 head and the HT40 Club combo. The HT Metal 60 is attractive but I've played it a few times and it's a bit on the dark side. Again more time with it might steer me otherwise but I wish they had a 60 watt head version. Thats kinda the way I want to go this time is go back to using a head just with less power.

I'm a metal 80's guy who has a modern OD tone. I love cleans and killer drive.

[markD]

I had an HT40 Club. I really liked the OD channel, but HATED the clean - it was very sterile. Reminded me of the JC120. I HATE the JC120. For a frame of reference, my main amps are Rivera M/S amps. I have the M60, M100, and S120. I also have two vintage Blackface Fenders - a Tremolux and a Bassman. Those amps are my benchmark for clean. With the Blackstar I was able to get a nice fusion-esque tone on the lead channel (which I like - nice, smooth OD), but I could NEVER get a satisfying clean sound where the notes "blossomed" in their sustain.

[mantis]

I had an HT40 Club. I really liked the OD channel, but HATED the clean - it was very sterile. Reminded me of the JC120. I HATE the JC120. For a frame of reference, my main amps are Rivera M/S amps. I have the M60, M100, and S120. I also have two vintage Blackface Fenders - a Tremolux and a Bassman. Those amps are my benchmark for clean. With the Blackstar I was able to get a nice fusion-esque tone on the lead channel (which I like - nice, smooth OD), but I could NEVER get a satisfying clean sound where the notes "blossomed" in their sustain.

Thanks for your input.
I played a Studio 60 and I hear exactly what you mean by the clean channel. On the Studio 60, it sounds exactly how you described. My bench mark is a Fender Twin Reverb.
I felt as if the clean channel just sounded like it was playing with a blanket in front of the speakers. No clarity at all. I tried the voicing feature, backed off the preamp volume, cranked the preamp volume and so on. It only has a Tone knob so you can't really EQ that well. I did however like the little bit of break up I got when I cranked the clean channel to 10 and dialed in the master volume. Very Classic rock but again with a blanket over the speaker sound like someone left the wrapper on it , it's bizarre sounding.
The OD channel is the same exact thing but with a nice high gain sound. I hear potential but the combo speaker I believe is in suspect.
I really want to try the Club HT50 head with a different cabinet maybe loaded with Eminence Legend speakers or something that provides a much clearer tone.
Getting a new amp to me basically sucks as You don't have many options to go sit down in front of and play until the magic happens.

10 years ago when I purchased my current amp, I was able to sit in front of many amps and really narrow down my choice. Today this basically is a waste of time. I actually don't enjoy going into music shops anymore as I always seem to leave dissapointed.

[DRM]

Put a BBE Sonic Stomp in the loop.

[Nightbat]

No experience with Blackstar, but I can tell you that a 40-60W amp will hardly be quieter than a 100W amp
Hell, even 10W tubes could be too loud for some evening jamming in an apartment

[mantis]

No experience with Blackstar, but I can tell you that a 40-60W amp will hardly be quieter than a 100W amp
Hell, even 10W tubes could be too loud for some evening jamming in an apartment

They have a pretty badass little HT5R 5 watt combo amp that sounded to me better then the Studio 60 I played. Nice little amp and I was strongly considering picking it up for just practice.